From the beginning it was clear that

Transcription

1 by Debra Denker, CHTP/I From the beginning it was clear that this trip to Tibet to teach Healing Touch required faith and surrender. I left my home in Santa Fe in late July, still without a permit to travel in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, not that we hadn't tried, or tickets from Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet s capital city. Since Tekla Fulton, RN, a Canadian Level 4 student from the Vancouver area, contacted me in January to ask if I d be willing to teach in Tibet, our small team had faxed our passport information to three different travel agents trying to get passage to the region. I boarded the plane in Albuquerque, wondering if I was going to Tibet or just to Los Angeles, CA for a long weekend. Magically, the energy began to open. Tekla, now in Beijing, found a travel agent who promised to get our permits and air tickets.

2 I was delighted to see Tekla at Beijing airport, smile on her face and good news in hand. The two of us got permits and tickets, and the travel agent was working on arrangements for Page Herring, a midwife and commercial fisherman from Cordova, Alaska who took the Level 1 that qualified me to apply for instructor certification last spring in Homer, Alaska. Travel agents in Lhasa took care of the permits for our guide and translator, Ugyen. I reflected gratefully on the synchronicity of this journey, despite its occasional obstacles. When someone offers you an air ticket to Beijing, as Tekla did through her organization Uknown Sages, which facilitates Healing Touch volunteer service travel to South and Himalayan Asia, you say YES. When a friend offers to do a fund-raiser for your trip, as Gail Watanabe, CHTP/I, did for me in June in Los Angeles, you open your arms gratefully to let the heart-energy in, and thank all the healers, readers and clients who participated. Tibet has often been called the roof of the world. Its mountains, plateaus, and valleys lie at an average altitude of around 14,000 feet. Historical Tibet is an enormous area, the size of western Europe, with habitat ranging from high altitude desert in the rainshadow of the Himalayas, to rugged snowclad mountains overlooking fertile oasis valleys fed by glacial waters, to the forested hills and grasslands of eastern Tibet. There are several major ethnic groups and widely Below: With Tibet s rich medical tradition Healing Touch will be accepted as a complementary therapy. I was still a little worried, as we didn t know where we would be teaching or who would be in our classes, and I felt I owed my generous donors some real results. But somehow, deep inside, I knew that things would unfold in the perfect way. Below: A beautiful example of Tibetan architecture. varying dialects of Tibetan. I was grateful for our translators, who helped our medical anthropologist conduct a needs assessment and facilitated our clinic which included Healing Touch, acupuncture, Tibetan Medicine, Western Medicine, Therapeutic Touch, and qi gong healing. Our young Tibetan translators were fascinated by the energy work, especially when treatments helped some of them heal quickly from sore throats and cuts sustained while cutting dried yak meat. A couple of them said they d like to learn Healing Touch someday, so I know that with Tibet s rich medical tradition, which can be traced back to treatises written in the 8th century, Healing Touch will be accepted as a complementary therapy.

3 Tekla and I observed the warmth and devotion of the Tibetan people. We wasted no time in going to the Barkhor, the circular bazaar that surrounds the Jokhang Temple. This holiest temple in Tibetan Buddhism houses the Jowo Rinpoche statue, an image of the young historical Buddha brought to Tibet by a Chinese princess come to marry the king in the 7th century. The image is especially revered because of the belief that all prayers offered in its presence will be fulfilled. We joined the press of the endlessly revolving crowd circumambulating the temple with its rooftop crowned by a golden Wheel of the Dharma flanked by deer. At twilight, the smoke of juniper incense perfumes the dusky air as pilgrims, many of whom have come from hundreds of miles away on foot, prostrate in front of the temple, bowing to the enlightened one within each sentient being. A couple of days after our arrival, we receive good news. Ugyen, our translator and guide, got a ticket from Nepal to Lhasa. Tekla and I continued doing the groundwork we had started months ago by , networking with local organizations that might be interested in Healing Touch. Tibet is the latest step of a spirit-guided vision she has had to bring Healing Touch to the Tibetan world, first in India and Nepal, and now in the Tibetan homeland. translator who understood how to explain Healing Touch since he completed up to Level 2 in India. He translated our presentations to the directors of the Mendzikhang, the Hospital of Traditional Tibetan Medicine, and the Tibetan Medical College where the doctors are trained. They were interested, even enthusiastic, but the students of the Medical College were on summer break, and the Mendzikhang needed official permissions for their staff to take our class, which takes time. They invited us to stay in touch by . On an inspiration, I ed Guru, one of my translators from last year who was studying in the Philippines. She wrote back immediately, suggesting that we contact her former boss at One HEART, a U.S.-based organization that conducts outreach and training in safe birthing and maternalchild health care. Tibet Program Director, Pasang, was gracious, curious, and open to Healing Touch. He was fluent in English, so Ugyen only needed to translate a few key terms for him and Tseten Dolkar, coordinator of the Skilled Birth Attendant Program. Below: One HEART Tibet Program Director Pasang Tsering practices Mind Clearing on staff member Pema Choezom. We went to the bazaar and bought Tekla a chuba, the traditional wraparound Tibetan dress decorated with a striped apron. I have been wearing chuba since I started traveling in Tibetan cultural regions in the late 70 s, and have always found it a comfortable garment. Page also bought chuba, silk blouse, and apron upon arrival. We received an unexpected reaction; wherever we went people demonstrated pleasure that we wore chuba. Mothers in the Jokhang gently admonished their hip daughters in jeans that they should wear chuba sometimes, since even foreigners are doing so. Ugyen later told us that one man conveyed his thanks to us for respecting their culture. Ugyen was a great addition to our team. After struggling along with my limited Tibetan, we now had an excellent

4 They felt that Healing Touch would be useful for their work, but were concerned that they needed permission from their home office in Salt Lake City. While waiting for their answer, we offered treatments to people in need. Clients were referred to us initially by Yusuf, the Tibetan Muslim owner of the hotel where we stayed. Ugyen translatedour intake, then either left while we worked or participated, as appropriate. One of our clients was a woman barely into middle age who had a heart condition, hepatitis C, and parasites. She had checked herself out of the hospital, unable to afford the fees. She had faith in our treatment, and indeed felt improvement, a lessening of pain, a lightness. Our work together gives us joy, and brought us together as a team as we connected with ordinary Tibetans in this way. The day of the class, Tekla, Page and I are all in chuba and the four women in the class are in jeans. I had asked what we should wear, and Tseten had enthusiastically said, Chuba, you look so nice in it. But we were all comfortable as we sat, sometimes in chairs, sometimes on the floor, improvising sacred healing space with camping mats on the floor. The students were curious, respectful, and attentive. I taught in English since they were all fluent. I had done a two-hour introduction the night before, so we moved on quickly to chakras and the biofield, feeling energy, and assessing with pendulums. I drew parallels between Healing Touch and way Tibetan Medicine sees the central channel and the chakras (they use five, seeming to combine the first and second and the sixth and seventh). I also talked about scientific research, as a scientific approach was important to these healthcare trainers. I was prepared for some skepticism about the pendulum, but they all took to it quickly. I later find out, in the evaluations that Ugyen videotaped, that initially a few students thought I was purposely moving it, and were surprised and excited to find that it worked for them as an assessment tool. Below: Students at One HEART completed 8 hours of Level 1 and look forward to completing the class next year. After two weeks in Lhasa, finally things fell into place. Page ed us that she s on her way. The long-awaited baby has been safely born, aided through a difficult moment by some of the Healing Touch techniques she learned in Level 1. Pasang called to tell us that the home office has agreed that their six staff members can take one day of our training. They loved the all the hands-on work, but their true rapture was reserved for the Mind Clearing. The students, six colleagues in One HEART, worked on each other with reverent care. Their faces, one by one, fell into the serenity of Buddhas as both healer and healee fully relaxed into the experience. In the end, there was a poignant sadness that the training was already over, that this year they could only do part 1, level 1. Everyone is eager to have us return next year so they can complete the class. Some already want to go on to higher levels. We presented them with certificates and katas. When I saw their broad smiles I was so grateful to the staff at

5 the Healing Touch Program who trusted me to travel halfway around the world with blank certificates. We hope to return to Tibet next fall when the Medical College is in session and One HEART s busy season is winding down. For now, we are grateful for those we have touched with our hands and hearts, and for our students lighting up the roof of the world. In the words of Pasang Tsering, Healing Touch connects us together, though we are in very different places around the world, but Healing Touch makes us connect. I would say Tashi Delay (the Tibetan greeting wishing auspicious luck) to everyone. E In keeping with the humanitarian missions of Healing Touch and Perception, our teaching and documentation work is non-political. Debra s Bio: Debra Denker, CHTP/I, has loved Tibetan culture since her first trip to Asia in She has traveled extensively in Asia as a journalist, photographer, video documentarian, and now healer. She began studying the healing arts in 1986 and is an ordained graduate of Rosalyn Bruyere s Healing Light Center Church. She joined the Healing Touch community in 2000, become a CHTP in 2002 and a Level 1 instructor in The class in Tibet was her first after receiving instructor certification. She is currently writing a book called Messages from the Dharma Cybercafe.